Thursday, October 28, 2010

The idea is being a light into the world. I wanted to create light coming from a lamp which represents my presence in the world. I modified a lamp post I cut on the Cricut. I held it in placed with a brad in the top and some glue on the frame. I cut my yellow scrapbook paper to create the beams of light from the lamp. It took a bit because the lamp is on the left hand page and the yellow had to go passed the centre line onto the right page. I found a graphic on line which represents my community. I added my journalling on the vellum. I used pencil crayon on the title letters to work with the light.

Gift Card Holders - I used the Sizzix Jumbo Crescent Tag die to make these. There is a card inside that holds the gift card. See previous post.

Vellum greetings held with brads and sequin stars ended up on a couple of these.

I placed a Stampin Up! Lattice Die (trimmed) with a stamped greeting and white poinsettia in the centre made from daisy confetti. The bottom daisy was colored with a stamp pad and they are held in placed with a brad.

The snowflake is MS with a horizontal punch greeting and a matching gross grain ribbon.

These Gift Card Holders are made with the Sizzix Jumbo Crescent Tag die. The picture on the top right hand corner shows the additional card I placed inside that holds the gift card. I used the Stampin Up! Slit punch to create small crescent shapes to slide the card into. Each holder has an organza ribbon to keep it closed.

I folded the cardstock and placed it just inside the steel rule which leaves the fold on the bottom on the card. I used scrapbook paper, 3D Christmas tags, silk flowers, sequin stars, stamped greetings,

I made a congratulations card and a set of cards for one of the girls at work who had a baby girl earlier this month.

I chose pink and green for my colors. The polka dot paper was printed on the color printer. The green is scrapbook paper. The card is bright pink. Those Stampin UP! nesting punches are great. The baby stamp is from a clear set.

These are tri-fold cards which provide an envelope to hold a gift card. I cut out the fronts of old Christmas cards and glued them to coordinating cardstock. I added a few embellishments as required. See the previous post for how the card holder envelope is incorporated into the third flap.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

I'm creating some items for a fundraiser in November. I made several gift card holders.

These are full cards with a complete insert. I used a piece of cardstock 12x5.5 inches. I scored at 4.25 and 8.5 inches. It becomes a trifold card with 3.5 inches folded into the card. I placed a small envelope with a thumb space on this flap to hold the gift card.

The fronts are recycled Christmas cards. I added sequin stars to the Bethlehem on the left. In the cente a snowflake punch has been added to the night sky and the bottom was ripped below the greeting. The right hand picture shows the 3 pieces (front, back and flap) of the card.

This was the first layout I produced as a sample for my bible study group.I placed areas of my life in the 4 quadrants of the page on the right where I can exercise kindness (family, work, church and strangers). The curves flow into the centre circle which represents my life being fuller when I practice kindness in all these areas. I've placed journalling and scripture on the left with my title.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Do you have a microfiber cloth in your camera bag? I would suggest that it's an essential tool. This works great to keep your LCD display clean. This summer I had been down on the ground taking shots and arrived home with a smudge on my display. I was afraid I had scratched it. I borrowed a microfibre cloth and to my relief the display nearly sparkled. I had this one given to me by my sister who has received one when she ordered her eyeglasses. Do you know that Nikon makes eyeglass lens, who knew! Thanks sister!

Saturday, October 16, 2010

I finally found a cutting mat for my Scor-Pal. I've had it for 18 months (check out my original posting) and a week ago found the cutting mat that fits in it at my local scrapbooking store. When the mat is in it creates a flat surface to work on which means it can stay on your work surface and do double duty.

These cards feature printed vellum. I placed a rectangle of printed vellum to fit the bottom 2/3 of the card. Place the adhesive at the very top of the vellum so it will be hidden when you glue the cardstock strip over it. I used decorative scissors on the lower edge of the strip but it could have been ripped or border punched as well. I layered the small white flower, the vellum, then cardstock 5 petal punchies. I placed them onto the card and with the card open placed it on an old mouse pad and used a push pin to create the hole through all layers and inserted the tiny brad. A greeting could be added on the strip or beside the flower.

These are the next set of cards. I feel I've gotten carried away with daisy confetti. They can be used in so many ways. I used a large variety of decorative paper which was trimmed to fit the front of the card. I added a color printed greeting which has been highlighted with a white daisy and a tiny black brad. I made a variety of greetings and if it was not what they wanted they could swap with another lady in the class or just turn it over and leave it blank or stamp a greeting. Easy to make a lot of cards for any occasion and not have them look exactly the same. Some paper was muted and soft and lent themselves to sympathy or get well cards. Bright and cheery paper for birthday or thinking of you cards. Some were thank you or Just for you cards.

This card features a scallop accent. It was created with the Stampin Up! Scallop punch, the 1 3.8" circle punch, a 1.25" circle with another shape punched into it. You want to punch the hole first then align the 1.25" punch over it. I used the MS Fleur de Lis, stars, hearts, daisies, etc. I mostly used stripped decorative paper. It card can be used in a tall or wide orientation. I picked colors from the decorative paper for the accent. Any color combination will do. Another versatile design.

I had 8 ladies in my All Occasion Stack Class this morning. What's a stack class? That is when you make many cards in one class. There are no rules in my classes so some designed cards that loosely resemble these. I should take pics of some of them. Some real creativity was used and a good time was had by all.

Here's the first card. Daisy confetti over a set of punched shapes with a matching strip of paper on a coordinating card. The circles are 1 1/4" circle punchies and the squares are the smallest on the Sizzix square die. I used tiny white brads in the centres. Use a push pin on an old mouse pad to made the hole for the brad. This is a versatile design as it can be landscape or portrait orientation, a variety of punched shapes can be used, the squares can be set into a diamond shape and any color combination can be used. The strip of paper can be ripped, cut with decorative scissors or cut straight. All around good design. A greeting could be stamped on the strip if you want.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

I decided to create the sense of something taking some time to happen and how I have to have patience. I came up with growing a flower. I started with a nice blue paper for the sky. I ripped a layer of dark brown cardstock for my earth. On the left is the seed in the ground. It then sprouts and continues to add leaves then a flower emerges which gets bigger. The leaves and stems get darker as they get bigger. I added rain drops of blue vellum and ripped clouds in the sky. Of course we need sun and warmth for things to grow. The journalling was placed on wavy vellum strips placed in between the stages of my flower growing. Scripture verse on the left hand side.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

We are having such great fall weather. It's Thanksgiving weekend! I hope you have a great one.

I started with a chocolate textured card. I selected a great copper metallic ribbon. I stamped a Magenta maple leaf in Chocolate Chip on orange paper. Ripped the paper to fit the corner and smudged the edges with the ink pad. I embossed a couple of foliage squares with a Cuttlebug 2" folder onto the bottom edge of the card. Added the ribbon along the folded edge. The scan does not do the ribbon justice.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

This is a great reminder of the summer. Sitting in a favorite chair in the warm sunshine. I took these photos this summer as we did the Art Studio Tour in Ontario. Nice bright colors in a great yard located along the Bay of Quinte on Lake Ontario. Saw some great art, spoke to some interesting people, ate some great food and spent an afternoon with my sister. Very good!

I had a good idea what I wanted. I don't have a garden but I wanted a garden bench. I took a trip to our local conservatory and took quite a few shots. I printed 3 of them to 8x10 then selected this one to cut down to 8x8 and matted with dark green. I surrounded the photo with words that I associate with peace, printed on vellum. I placed my title below the garden bench. The square picture is of Peter and Jesus on the water. When Peter kept his eyes on Jesus he did not sink. I added a scripture verse and some journalling. The small envelope holds a note with personal concerns.

Friday, October 1, 2010

Christmas wreaths could be foliage, twig, or balls. They could be green, red, or metallic. They can be stamped, punched, or die cut. Of course, they can be made many other ways so use your imagination!

I chose origami as my technique and moss green as my color. I found a sample of this wreath in the Split Coast Stampers gallery. The directions provided made a wreath too large for a card. The original paper dimensions were 3"x5" and I brought mine down to 2"x4". They were quite time consuming to make but well worth it. I used giftwrap weight paper. Once complete I taped the back side with regular tape to keep it from coming apart. I then wrapped the wreath with a coordinating fiber and left a tail where I knotted it. I placed a layer of scrapbook paper in stripes of burgundy, moss green and gold on a cream card. I used double sided tape to adhere the wreath to the card. I found a satin ribbon which matched and placed it below the wreath across the card. I added a greeting using Stampin Up! nesting oval punches and foam tape. The greeting is stamped in a soft green.